State senate votes to save charter schools

OLYMPIA — The Washington state Senate voted 27-20 to pass Senate Bill 6194 on Wednesday. The bill includes provisions to attempt to fund charter schools in a way that will be considered constitutional by the state Supreme Court.

Last year, the state Supreme Court ruled that it is unconstitutional to divert money dedicated to public schools to fund private organizations, which includes all schools that are not “common schools,” or governed by an elected board.

This version of the bill involves using money from funds other than the general fund.

The bill was carried through the Ways and Means Committee on Tuesday.

Those who opposed the bill voiced concerns that it would still not pass constitutional muster. According to Sen. Judy Warnick, R-Moses Lake, every Republican committee member voted in favor of the bill, and every Democratic member voted against it.

Sen. Jamie Pedersen, D-Seattle is one of the committee members who was unconvinced of the constitutionality of the bill.

“It defies the imagination to think that our Supreme Court is going to look at this bill and think that we have addressed the problems that they pointed out,” he said.

Pedersen said he hopes to revisit the bill and think of another way to fund the charter schools.

Warnick said she believes the committee has done what it can to make the bill constitutional, and she hopes the Supreme Court will agree.

She said her district does not have charter schools, but other kinds of schools could be affected as well.

Warnick said she was compelled to vote in favor of this bill after hearing testimony from students who attended charter schools.

“Those students were absolutely compelling,” Warnick said. “Many of them were minorities, many of them were low income, and many of them did not want to go to school, but when they started at a charter school, they found the value of education.”